OOCS

  Chapter 62 : Politics attempt three / Presentation Time

  On Harriet′s insistent demands and repayment of her smeared honor, which no one takes serious for now, Karl finds it interesting and follows along on his own accord, so the small group of Laka, Tris, Sarsa, Doc, Harriet and a group of not front line posted wives are quickly gathered in the mess hall.

  All in there random places on the chairs and benches in the room. Karl gets some food shoved his way by a worried cooking wife, as a chance to make him meet his daily calories at least in some way. Sarsa is in her spot in the front to the side and Harriet had the area closest to a stage that Sarsa normally used for her morning speeches.

  “Oh great family.” The opportunists started, only to get stopped by Laka trowing in a quick, “Not quite yet.” which got the rest giggling.

  “Oh glorious family.” The merchant started again. “I got the stuff you requested!” She held a small pause as the opinion off her rose up rather high in some women present. Karl, Sarsa, Laka and Tris stayed calm, all having learned from interacting with some form of cooperate or high officials speeches what framing and almost lying in speeches looked like.

  “The wares are upstairs to claim. The requested women should be waiting up there too.” Again her speech managed to make her stand out with pride and respect.

  Yet as no expected “But” got delivered to make this a more grounded and realistic response, Tris lost her temper and shoved in her question to pop that bubble. “And how good quality are the goods? How desperate are the specialists?”

  “Top quality and they are so eager to join I had to almost chain them to my truck to keep them from running here ahead of me on their own!” Harriet defended herself.

  Smelling a nice big price at the end of this hunt for truth, Tris pushed on. “You brought along one of Hubbies old jars of bottled cum and sweat, then used that stuff to convince and bribe who ever you could for more.”

  Harriet just stood there stunned with her jaw hanging open after that line.

  This was enough confirmation for Tris to take the win, turn it into a wide grin and then perform a gentle stand up and bow. This got Karl to start applauding this display of verbal cunning and most others of the room joined in.

  A half minute later and a died down and re-seated crowd, Harriet was by now sulking in defeat, ears low and tail dragging on the floor as she side stepped left and right.

  Surprisingly to the merchant, Sarsa came to her rescue. “Good work Volpir girl. We want the stuff and need some of it through any means necessary. Lets hope the quality really is good, then you can be a full member. We are marauders at worst, we are loyal to no one but our family for now.”

  This shocked Harriet as everyone, but Karl-Heinz, nodded in agreement to the first wife. Still this did not hold her for long as there was potential favors to be earned from this. “So when will you help me carry it down here? It is a bit crowded up there and alone it would take me quite a while to get it done.”

  “Do it now, bring it into the big storage room right behind the defenses. Then you can, if you want to, present our wares to Karl. But you do have to present the new potential wives to me and Karl-Heinz.” Sarsa said whilst a new runner came into the mess hall, being gestured by a raised hand to wait a bit.

  Before Harriet could react tough, she jumped up from a very unexpected sensation on her fluffy ears. Scavera made herself known by a gentle touch and a preemptive comment. “No, the dust when you enter the bunker stays to find spies.”

  Keeping the Volpir off guard Sarsa then added on. “You also can get who ever agrees to help you, to do so, but not the ones manning the defenses.”

  Good enough point than any other, Harriet took the win, tried to suppress the unexpected jump scare and twists and made a fast clipped walk out the door to get her task done. Big plans and hopes for that night in mind

  Being full again with food and seeming not very needed or allowed to help with Harriet or the current wave of possible wives, Karl decides to go for a walk. This did not distract him long as Laka blocked him from going down into the lower levels of mine-shafts he had made, the bunker was roomy but not very big to walk around in and he had not yet craft created a treadmill either with a rubber walking band, he did not have, or with a metal tread system he did not think about recreating from the tank way back on the front line.

  Stopping in the storage room he did see the train still looking good and not daring to touch it as the Gohbs of his family had made it their room, bunk or home. They somehow had managed to build up a closed cabin on one of the trailers from wood and where seemingly eager to slowly turn the train either into a road monster or arts and craft crazy glue accident.

  Oddly enough, they had not yet gotten the ability to weld stuff, but the workshop scrap box had been plundered a few times for some of the creations components.

  But before the one Gohb present could get kicked away by Laka, for attempting something stupid with Karl-Heinz, the new shipment of goods rolled in. Carried by the eager wives and guarded by an invisible potato sack carrying Tris.

  The newest prisoner seemed to this time not have been knocked out and was merely tied up. Karl felt the difference when a cheeky tail brushed thru his hair and a muffled moan of contempt happiness escaped Tris shoulder.

  This did get a reaction out of Laka. “Did this one surrender or why is she not knocked out or tied up more securely?”

  “OH yeah she gave up. The moment she was covered in dust she raised her arms and pleaded mercy. Also seems like she had waited a long time at the front door for a chance to get in. She is dripping wet all over my fur!” Tris complained as she walked past, dumping off the newest prisoner in the most likely soon needing a jail expansion.

  Karl had a brain fart at that and blurted out his idea. “Can we paint numbers on them? I can′t tell them apart and you all most likely can′t either.”

  “Great idea!” one of the Gohbs called out and quickly rushed out towards the prison rooms direction.

  Tris nodded to Laka and carried on carrying her newest love interest away. The invisible tail still messing with Karl′s hair as long as he was standing in range.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Now that this small interruption past by Karl and his hair, it was time to bask in the glory of whatever Harriet had managed to get them for goodies. Or rather what had already been carried down into the room to observe.

  So far it was many smaller house hold items. Toasters, Bread or meat cutters, hand shavers, some oddly fancy looking lighter and so on. Next a wife was bringing in a machine looking like a clothes dryer or washing machine.

  All devices without a power cord, all of them looking ready to just be started up and do their thing.

  Karl-Heinz had no idea or context if this was the bottom trash unemployed government aid house hold machines or if this was what nobles displayed to the world visiting on small marble pedestals that she had the money to have her maids use convenient machines to aid in daily chores. But Karl did not ask to get context, rather stand there and wait until the proper show could start.

  - - -

  Harriet had managed to bring a lot. This took them 2 hours to fully bring down into the storage room, only made harder by a small guard detail needed to keep the Gohbs grabby fingers away from the pile prematurely, Doc managed to fill that role nicely, with the authority of the one who can make your bad day either pleasant or agonizing with her judgment of use of painkillers in case of injury. It also did not help that the procession of goods needed to be brought from the trucks, through the slightly blocking crowd, through the full of applicant hopeful wives to be room, past the doors that needed to repeatedly kick out over eager women and do that all through narrow stairways and doors.

  The Dust bucket needed several refills when they carried and checked for spies every time they past into the bunker, Karl was good to be on standby. Harriet was --very very-- much lighter in shade from all the dust that accumulated in her fur when the collection was complete.

  But now after at long last an eternity and a half, with a small pile of logic puzzle blocks and toys Karl had made in boredom from memory, it was finally time for the sales pitch to make her spot on the family or break her life and get kicked out broke from the bunker.

  “First you get to see the requested wares. The requested wives are stuck in traffic at the entrance gate it seems” Harriet opened, trying to get a chuckle, which worked on a few of the wives present so a good enough. “Here you can see stacked up the collected luxury goods and machines that the rich and favored are eager to use.”

  Harriet stopped her speech as Karl′s hand shot up. “Yes?” She asked pointing an arm at him to prompt his response.

  “So a normal person would just live in a normal shit house and do most house work with just simple tools and muscle power and open fires?” He asked, curious about how this worlds level of luxury and standards of living looked like.

  But Harriet was a good enough merchant to stay on the topic of her sales pitch and deflected that question easy enough. “We can talk about that sometime else, for now I am going to present what I got here. Anyway...” With a happy energetic swing in her tail and some pep in her steps, the hoping bride to be went into a very fancy listing of facts and sales pitch points to get her items enough verbal prestige to hit the mark of entry.

  She did avoid technical details that got asked of her a few time by Karl-Heinz, as the merchant simply did not know them. But she did happily answer what ever she was able to answer.

  It turns out that this world had no extensive power-grid. The big factories maybe have external electrical power production. But almost everyone else did not need heavy power lines, as everything just got powered by Axiom. Making all the house hold luxury machines self powered in their own way.

  This also woke the hope in Karl-Heinz that he could get a pc going in his live time on this planet. As the delivered high luxury goods did have some slightly complex logic components build in that one could try to reverse engineer or replicate.

  The plan for trading was after all to replicate existing stuff and mass produce it for profit. With the added side note of maybe trading weapons of better quality that what was seen on the front lines for a cheaper price. At least if they can figure out these pricing details and use them to maximize their own profits.

  But that was now Harriet′s job it seemed, as she had herself wrapped around the still not cleaned Karl-Heinz and was burring her nose as deep into his neck as she could. So close even that the on stand-by guard detail was hovering very close by to pry her of their husband if she somehow managed to get even closer.

  Laka had the worried look on her face as if she feared the Volpir woman would start merging into Karl′s body.

  Karl-Heinz for his part was more calm and just let her mostly do as she pleased, only stopping the wandering fingers from going in his pants. But he did retake on of the brought over --a-- seats to be better able to resist the strong pushing motions from the merchant.

  He was distracted from the intense body contact, still he managed to keep his focus on the second part of the presentation. It seems that Harriet had also managed to get a group of skilled women for the harem brought over and into the bunker. They where now lined up, slightly against their will, next to the newest possible trade goods in the middle of the room.

  These new women all looked the same as his existing porn super star wives did. Karl-Heinz after all still was unable to read body language very well, if at all and completely missed an air of tempered confidence in these women′s postures.

  Also added on top, Harriet had stopped being even partially lucid three close sniffs into her cuddles. By now she was as far gone as a cat in a field of cat nip with an added drooling effect from both pairs of her lips.

  Still the second wave of possible new harem members needed first wife Sarsa′s approval and to avoid Karl-Heinz or Vaskra′s veto. As neither Karl or the one who had green lit them entering the bunker had vetoed these women, they only needed to convince Sarsa to get a husband.

  Yet it was hard to give the small speech or at best a lacking presentation with the man in eyesight being fingered by a very over eager woman, the room almost swimming in pheromones and the looming possibility of failure dreading them to maybe risk more than would be sane in a calm and not lust drugged mind.

  One needed to go first. Three tried to do that and almost stumbled over themselves to try and reach that spot light position in front of the crowd, eyes completely fixed on Karl and Sarsa. The real first ending up to be the underdog short stack.

  The newest and second Kohb in this bunker managed to move past the stumble the fastest and give her credentials and ramble on about what dedicated good work she had done as an actual graduated Doctor of medicine. There was a big stutter as she was asked about her skills with mental health, but it got obvious fast that she had some slight grasps on that topic, but not enough to do much good, still she was accepted.

  Then the Kohb was intercepted on her way to Karl by Doc and dragged of to the infirmary to talk shop. The newest actual doctor, never had any physical demanding work in her life and was rather easily overpowered by the fit soldier medic wanna be.

  Second in line was another Gohb crafter. Headstrong freeing herself from the second line of stumbled people, to give her credentials, her crafts of pride from her life so far. Then she trailed off as the Gohbs from the train stole her attention first with insults, then with the machine they called home and shortly after assimilated into the sub family.

  Sarsa was rubbing her head in frustration at the already decaying order of the room. So she waved forward the next woman to try her chances.

  Next up was a seeming gentle giant. The second Lopen Karl had ever seen on this planet. This time with an attached big very fluffy tail. She walked forward uneasy and soft, making no sound when her paws hit the ground. Sitting down like a dog in the spot the others had done their audition.

  The tail was not wagging or moving. Just pressed against the side of her body on the floor. Her look was focused on Laka. Both Lopen having gone into some kind of stare off competition.

  Sarsa first gestured with one arm to get the woman speaking,

  then gestured a bit more.

  Then commanded it with a normal. “Hey”

  Not being socially oblivious like Karl-Heinz, who was by now fighting for breath as the fluff of Harriet′s face and kisses was threatening to suffocate him, had realized the tension of the two Lopen. So instead he used the end of her tail and smacked Laka′s head with it.

  This got a surprised growl and yip combination from the guard wife. A reflex noise from her surprise at the sudden hit out of nowhere. But the focus remained on the stare off.

  So Sarsa did her next and most likely last step of escalation. “Tris can you snap Laka out of it?” Regretting the words even before they had passed her lovely plush lips.

  Tris for her part just upped her ever present grin a bit. “Gladly” And stepped in front of Laka, Blocking both Lopen women′s view of each other. This did manage to work as both voiced up in unison. “Why did you stop the test?” from Laka and “I almost had her!” from the new girl.

  Before the two managed to lean around Tris to restart what ever the two had going on, Sarsa interjected. “Explain?” towards Laka and a raised flat hand stopping gesture at the candidate, who for her part was still remaining in place, not moving even a bit more of her body than her heavy chest in normal breaths.

  “Test of patience strength. She is a Lopen, so she is strong. But how dedicated is she when staring down a challenge? I need to test her if she is going to help me guard hubby!” Laka sort of half explains. Leaving out a good load of cultural species context, that would have been nice to have as well.

  Still an answer this well will do in this moment for Sarsa. “Understood, do that later, now I would like to know her credentials and other points that I can get a grasp on if she is a good sister wife or not.”

  To that Laka counters. “Does not matter. I will test her and if need be train up what she is lacking.”

  This causes a very strong case of happy tail syndrome to develop in the new Lopen. The tail reaching speeds ready for lift off.

  Two weeks of sand ran down my sand clock

  Two weeks if time i am never getting back sss

  I got to sss 102 avrage views per chapter now. SO i am ever slowly trickeling into them niche.